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August 5, 2015

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Happy 70th, now you鈥檙e allowed to have a banquet

Residents in a county in southwest China鈥檚 Sichuan Province have been told they can only hold banquets on three occasions 鈥 weddings, funerals and birthdays of those over the age of 70.

The new rules target a predilection for banquets for anything from moving house to children going to school, the Chengdu Economic Daily reported.

The Tongjiang County government in Bazhong says 70-year-olds can have a banquet for their birthday but then can鈥檛 have another until they鈥檙e 80. The rules for civil servants are stricter, they can鈥檛 have birthday banquets at all. Violators will be warned and punished, a government notice said.

Public reaction has been mixed.

鈥淭here are simply too many banquets here,鈥 Tongjiang resident Yang Deying told the paper.

鈥淭oday the elder son hosts a banquet for his father鈥檚 birthday, tomorrow the younger son will hold another, and it happens every year.鈥

Zhu Kun is happy because of the 鈥渞ed envelope鈥 problem, where guests bring cash for the banquet host.

Zhu said the minimum red envelope had increased to 200 yuan (US$32.22) from the one or 2.00 yuan common 20 years ago.

鈥淥ne should give at least 200, and closer friends or relatives should put in 500 yuan, and there is no upper limit,鈥 said Zhu, who works in a pharmacy and earns 3,000 yuan a month. 鈥淲hen a person gives 1,000 yuan to my banquet, I will have to return 1,200 yuan next time at his/her banquet as a tradition.鈥

Tongjiang resident Yuan Mingxin, a man in his 60s, told the paper he thought the new regulations were too strict and would be hard to enforce.

鈥淏anquets need to be regulated, but this notice is not practical. For those who are not healthy enough to live to 70, he or she might never have the chance to host a banquet.鈥


 

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